Vincent van Gogh quotes page 2

I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say "he feels deeply, he feels tenderly."Vincent van Gogh

I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God's help I shall succeed.Vincent van Gogh

Try to grasp the essence of what the great artists, the serious masters, say in their
masterpieces, and you will again find God in them. One man has written or said it in a book,
another in a painting.Vincent van Gogh

We spend our whole lives in unconscious exercise of the art of expressing our thoughts with
the help of words.Vincent van Gogh

It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper meaning.Vincent van Gogh

I can't work without a model. I won't say I turn my back on nature ruthlessly in order to turn
a study into a picture, arranging the colors, enlarging and simplifying; but in the matter of
form I am too afraid of departing from the possible and the true.Vincent van Gogh

The work is an absolute necessity for me. I can't put it off, I don't care for anything but the
work; that is to say, the pleasure in something else ceases at once and I become melancholy
when I can't go on with my work.Vincent van Gogh

I have often neglected my appearance. I admit it, and I also admit that it is "shocking."Vincent van Gogh

An artist needn't be a clergyman or a churchwarden, but he certainly must have a warm heart
for his fellow men.Vincent van Gogh

It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to... The
feeling for the things themselves, for reality, is more important than the feeling for pictures.Vincent van Gogh

I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.Vincent van Gogh

I must continue to follow the path I take now. If I do nothing, if I study nothing, if I cease
searching, then, woe is me, I am lost. That is how I look at it - keep going, keep going, come
what may.Vincent van Gogh

Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all.Vincent van Gogh

When I have a terrible need of, shall I say the word, religion; then I go out and paint the
stars.Vincent van Gogh

It is with the reading of books the same as with looking at pictures; one must, without doubt,
without hesitations, with assurance, admire what is beautiful.Vincent van Gogh

I try more and more to be myself, caring relatively little whether people approve or disapprove.Vincent van Gogh

My opinion is that the best thing would be to work on till art lovers feel drawn toward it of
their own accord, instead of having to praise or to explain it.Vincent van Gogh

To some, woman is heresy and diabolical. To me she is just the opposite.Vincent van Gogh

When we are working at a difficult task and strive after a good thing, we are fighting a
righteous battle, the direct reward of which is that we are kept from much evil. As we
advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost
strength of the heart is developed.Vincent van Gogh

But for one's health as you say, it is very necessary to work in the garden and see the
flowers growing.Vincent van Gogh

Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.Vincent van Gogh